Little more than one hundred years ago, legend says traveling American business man William D. Boyce found himself lost in fog of London. Lost. No map. No directions. Nowhere to turn.

He was not prepared.

Fortunately for Boyce, the English boy he encountered was prepared. Recognizing the man’s confusion, the boy offered his assistance and helped Boyce to his destination. The unnamed boy following the oath he took as a Scout, in which he promised “to help other people at all times.” Boyce was thankful, learned his lesson about being prepared, and decided to learn more about these English Boy Scouts. He found out that their motto was “Be Prepared,” among other things. Eventually, he brought the Scouting movement to the United States, where it was officially founded in 1910.

I am joining over 45,000 Scouts, Scouters (adult advisors), and staff members who are descending upon a remote site in Virginia for the National Scout Jamboree this week. We will be celebrating a century of history for the Boy Scouts of America.

Remarks at the Highlander Leadership AwardsApril 15, 2010 at 5:00 PMThe Stockdale Center at Monmouth College

Let’s once again congratulate all of our Highlander Leadership Award nominees and winners! True to the spirit of this occasion, it’s fitting that everything you have enjoyed here tonight was organized by student leaders. Please join me in thanking Michelle Bruce, Cris Escobar, and Katie Argentine!

Now, this year saw more students nominated for Leader of the Year than ever before, as well as the first Coach to be nominated for Advisor of the Year, and the first student-created program executed successfully by a group other than a recognized student organization. This is fantastic.

Remarks at the Panhellenic Council Awards BanquetDecember 2, 2009 at 5:30 PMThe Stockdale Center at Monmouth College

Good evening, and congratulations to everyone. Not simply congrats to those who won awards, but to everyone here. You have become part of something special, a fraternity, a family. You are sisters.

Like a real family, you care for one another. You cheer for your sisters. You cry with them. When a sister does something dumb, you gently set her straight. When she persists, you insist. And when your sister does something great, you lift her up and celebrate, as we do tonight.

However your fraternal family is much larger than the 156 sisters here, or even the 316 fraternity brothers and sisters at Monmouth College. Would you believe, that between your three organizations, you have almost six hundred thousand sisters? If you were to bring them all to one place, they would fill April Zorn Memorial Stadium 219 times. That’s more than half a million people in your fraternal family!

Have you heard about the “bad crowd” and the advice to stay away from it? After all, you would not want to be guilty by association! Those members of the bad crowd are so easy to spot. Aren’t they? All members of men’s and women’s fraternities, with those letters on their chests.

Those sloths of academia, those irresponsible brats, it’s about time they had their due. One day they will loose the shielded environment of college and just have to slug it out in the real world. Let’s just see how they do: